Wonder Man is the name of three
fictional
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, ...
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
characters
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
in the
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
. The first is a
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
and his only appearance was in ''Superman'' #163 (August 1963). The second is
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
, who uses the name when he replaces
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
as the representative of the
Olympian Gods
upright=1.8, Fragment of a relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and s ...
in ''Wonder Woman'' (vol. 3) #3. The third is Dane of Elysium, who is a male version of
Diana Prince
Diana Prince is a fictional character appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, as the secret identity of the Amazonian superhero Wonder Woman, who bought the credentials and identity from a United States Army nurse named Diana Pri ...
that exists on
Earth-11, where the genders of the superheroes are reversed.
Other versions
Ajax
Within the story, he appeared on the scene and eventually came to rival
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
, possessing the same powers as he, but not his weaknesses. His popularity surpassed Superman which left him depressed, feeling like a has-been.
It was later revealed that Wonder Man used to be Ajax, one of Superman's duplicate
robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
that he used for help or hiding his identity.
Ajax was kidnapped by the Superman Revenge Squad while in space, who turned him into a real living being while still having his bionic super-powers. The invaders wanted to use him to remove Superman so that he would no longer be in their way for their attack. Wonder Man, not being evil, thwarted their plan with Superman when he learned of their full intentions. After the aliens' defeat, Superman offered Wonder Man (who revealed to him his secret) the chance to fight at his side, but the aliens installed a death-mechanism in him that was triggered to kill him within a week. Wonder Man died, and then laid in a grave which said that he was born a robot, but died a human.
Hercules
Hercules appears during the events of ''
One Year Later
"One Year Later" is a 2006 comic book storyline running through books published by DC Comics. It involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Universe following the events of the ''Infinite Crisis'' storyline, to explore ...
''. Now shaven and bearing an updated version of the armour worn in the ''Hercules Unbound'' series, he replaces Wonder Woman as an agent of Olympus. He is referred to as "Wonder Man" by
Cheetah
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
and
Nemesis
In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view.
Etymology
The n ...
. He temporarily set up his base in the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
Embassy
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
.
In ''Wonder Woman'' (vol. 3) #4, Hercules is revealed to have lied about his reasons for returning to Earth and was actually partnering with
Circe
Circe (; grc, , ) is an Magician (paranormal), enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion. She is either a daughter of the Titans, Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse (mythology), Perse ...
.
Dane of Elysium
Dane of Elysium was introduced in ''
Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer - Superwoman/Batwoman'' #1 (2008) as an inhabitant of
Earth-11, which is home to reverse-gendered superheroes. He is the reverse gender of New Earth's
Diana Prince
Diana Prince is a fictional character appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, as the secret identity of the Amazonian superhero Wonder Woman, who bought the credentials and identity from a United States Army nurse named Diana Pri ...
. It is revealed that Dane was exiled from "Woman's World" when he killed
Maxine Lord on national television for controlling
Superwoman
Superwoman is the name of several fictional characters from DC Comics. Most of them are, like Supergirl, women with powers similar to those of Superman, like flight, invulnerability, and enhanced strength. Detective Comics, Inc. trademarked the ...
. He eventually led his male
Amazons
In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, ...
into battle against the United States, and fought Superwoman and the
Justice League
The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...
, defeating them.
Following the ''Flashpoint'' (2011) reboot, Earth 11's gender-reversed Wonder Woman is Wonderous Man, as shown in ''
The Multiversity Guidebook'' (2015).
Wonder Man from Earth-11 is separate from
Wonder Warrior, who was another male version of Wonder Woman created by
Mister Mxyzptlk
Mister Mxyzptlk (, ), sometimes called Mxy, is a character who appears in DC Comics' '' Superman'' comic books. He is usually presented as a trickster in the classical mythological sense. Mxyzptlk possesses reality-warping powers with which he en ...
and existed in a pre-''Crisis'' reverse-gendered reality.
See also
*
Captain Wonder
*
Olympian
*
Wonder Boy
The series, also known as the series, is a franchise of video games published by Sega and developed by Westone Bit Entertainment (formerly Escape). Beginning with the original ''Wonder Boy (video game), Wonder Boy'' arcade game released in April ...
References
External links
Ajax:
Bio on SupermanicaAjax at DC Database Project
Dane of Elysium:
Just Past the Horizon: Earth-11
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wonder Man (Dc Comics)
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics robots
Fictional characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability